This is an optic that I have been wanting to own for many years but have never seen in the States, as far as I can remember anyway. I've seen a number of interesting photos over the years mostly of it being used by Alpha and other Russian counter terror units but I do not believe it is in service in the military and does not have a GRAU number. As far as I can tell it's intended for hunters but has caught the attention of special forces who apparently seem to like it.

http://priceli.narod.ru/hist.htm

First impressions are really good and I have to admit I am instantly in love with this optic. It's light and sturdy and seems very well put together. The finish is very similar to the classic hammer grey of the POSP 8x42 optics and has the same tough but glossy surface. All parts seem well fitted and attention to detail is good. Windage and elevation clicks are positive and feel solid. The optic was easy to mount and lock down into place. For some reason this model does not have the traditional quick disconnect lever but that hasn't detracted from my appreciation of it yet.


Field of view is really good with both eyes open. Generally the pictures make it look more cluttered than it is but during shooting all you can really see is the reticule and the target. It's as good as PK-AS in this regard, all the clutter tends to disappear when shooting.


I've only had time to do a quick range test on it but with a couple mags it performed very well. I will say this has probably been the easiest Russian optic I've ever mounted and zeroed...it took less than 20 seconds to get it lined up with the irons and begin shooting accurately.

I'll be posting a formal review on http://russianoptics.net/reddot.html in the next few weeks after I get some time to get more into it, but I thought you guys might enjoy a quick preview.










On the AK105. This is a nice package also, though I am beginning to believe that just about any optic on an AK105 is a nice package.
(Shown with RS Regulate BM1 light mount and Manticore Nightbrake)



Comparison with EKP-8-02 on the AK105


Comparison to EKP-8-02 (left) and EKP-1S-03M (right). OKP-7 is lighter and smaller than the Kobra (16.1oz for 8-02, 12.1oz for OKP and 13.4oz for 1S-03M)





Views of the reticule. This is very easy to acquire and does absolute cowitness. The instruction manual says if you have already zeroed your irons, simply put the reticule on the front sight post and you're done. I did this and had the OKP-7 zeroed in about 20 seconds to both the 74M and the 105.
The nice thing is that like any good collimator/red dot because it is parallax free you do not have to maintain the same cheekweld as you do with the irons.






Because I am in love with Obzor and TA31H-G with the green horseshoe reticule, I went with green on OKP-7 as well. It comes in red, green, yellow and blue, and several reticule configurations. I believe if I get another it will be a green dot and circle ala PK-AS


The photo does not clearly show it cowitnessed with the irons but if you look closely you can see the green reticule against the left side of the rear sight leaf. As mentioned it is absolute cowitness.



The automatic brightness feature definitely works though I am still not certain exactly how yet. The pic is not that great but even almost directly into the sun I could still clearly see the reticule. So far I have not been able to wash the reticule out against any background and despite what appear to be many ways the optic could reflect bright light so far I have not seen it do so. There haven't been any ghosting or reflective issues that I have noticed yet.



The objective lense. Some concern has been raised on other forums over the years about the durability of the sight. I think it has some limitations due to the size of the objective but after getting my hands on this I feel like it's a pretty robust optic in most ways. Obviously it may not be as tough as fully enclosed optics like Rakurs, PK-AS or Obzor but in person it's quite a bit tougher feeling than pictures make it out to be. I am not sure yet if the lense is glass or plastic but you can see that it's pretty thick.



The emitter mechanism. I believe OKP-7 was designed with inspiration from lessons learned from the Kobra, at least it appears that is who they feel their main competitor is.



Controls:
Push the brass button down for On and push from below for Off


Windage screw and battery compartment. Takes CR357 (DL 1/3) batteries


Elevation


Mine did not come with a locking lever in the classic sense so this one is not quick disconnect. I'm not sure why mine came without the lever.



Mine came with a carry case, cover, wrench and a xeroxed set of instructions.


With the cover mounted

Very cool TX, nice review.  I rather it had a locking lever and rear stop on the mount.

That is an interesting optic. Looks like someone was thinking outside the box with it.

Any source for these? They are really cool! Especially with the PK-AS style reticle, this thing has a lot of potential to be a VERY fast sight.

This is pure sex right here.

Due tell what was the source and cost of this beauty!

Excellent pbotos and review (As usual).  Thanks again Zen.

You need to start making videos on YouTube!  You've got stuff to review that no one else has.

dude great pictures man! you have a  great  way of capturing the detail man!



great idea!  i can totally see Zen going ...

" And did i tell you?...I REALLY like this product...."

Source? Price?

He could definitely make a little money doing that, as he has a lot of stuff that no one else can get, let alone review.

+1 Looks like I need this!

Just give us a source so this thread doesn't run the risk of looking like an ad and getting closed

Really cool. I love the design, and it looks like a VAST improvement over the Kobra. I'd be highly interested in getting one if they started coming in and the price were right.

it won't fit a Krinkov will it

There is no source in the classic sense. I have a few friends who asked around and someone in Russia was willing to work with me to get this back to the States. Unless the people in Russia are willing to buy more I wouldn't say this will be available again, or in any numbers. As far as this being viewed as an ad I can't really see why it would be. Pretty much all I do is review Russian optics and I don't get paid to write them or get free optics to review. Almost everything I write about is my personal property minus a couple night vision optics that Oleg sent me to check out. The best I get is friend prices because obviously I tend to buy a lot of optics for the website.


Unfortunately no this won't fit the AKSU. While the body is purely mounted along the side it's the objective lense that rides low and forward which makes it bump the rear site on the AKSU.  







I don't know about the money part but theoretically I could see doing some video reviews in the future. Problem is that I don't have a lot of time for it and I don't have any interest in being on youtube really, but maybe voice only reviews.




Did I tell you? I REALLY like this post





Z

I can't swear by the durability yet but I agree, after handling OKP-7 to me it's a big step up over the Kobra. There is something really elegant in the design and it's already making me feel like I will like it more than Obzor. Could be the ACOG green of the reticule though, lately I seem to be smitten by that design.



Z

Always a pleasure to read these reviews.

So I need to make friends with some Russians....

Review is up on the site and here's a link for anyone not familiar with russianoptics.net http://russianoptics.net/okp7.html



Z